57 Responses

I wonder how much of the increased traffic has come from all the attention the Prenda fiasco has attracted. I know that's how I discovered the site. I came for top-notch Prenda analysis and commentary, but I stayed for the ponies.

This somewhat mitigates the specific damage the shennanigans of the Carreons and Prendas have caused by providing a general (albeit indirect) benefit.

To the extent that others, as I did, first visited this site over coverage of The Oatmeal saga or Prendageddon but then stayed for the commentary on a wide variety of other issues the net result was Carreon/Prenda -> More Popehat readers -> More Informed Citizens.

Even if my friends now have to tolerate this non-lawyer saying things like "sua sponte" or "Article III judge" in conversation, they've found real value in learning from Ken about Whale Sushi sentencing or in being reminded about Richard Jewell via Patrick.

Thanks, Popehat. I hope your increased traffic comes with a satisfaction that there are more folks out there discussing the "marketplace of ideas" than there would be otherwise.

As a loyal daily reader since 2007, is this where I come to collect my prize?

Seriously, watching this site's growth has been like following the Beastie Boys' career trajectory – a bunch of amusing and clever, but otherwise kinda immature early stuff, followed by increasing amounts of pure genius and influence.

I recall one post from awhile back (can't find the link) that taught me the invaluable lesson that the solution to being attacked by a pack of six year olds was to "stand up." This site still insists on teaching everyone to "stand up," but now it's to grown ups like Prenda L…..

Ok, so you're all still writing a lot about standing up to children. But they're much taller children now.

I am one of the new visitors this year. Similar to prior comments, I originally found the site for the detailed (and humorous) analysis of the Prenda saga and have stayed for the genuinely interesting and entertaining reading.

As an IP Attorney in Los Angeles, Ken's spin on things is right up my alley. While I have never handled a defamation or first amendment issue, I certainly find it very interesting. In the short time I have been reading the blog, I am amazed by how many ill-conceived threats are made or the number of bad attorneys that exist out there. Sadly, the latter should probably not be a surprise to me.

Anyways, count me as a loyal follower who will continue to read every post.

P.S. Ken, if Aaron Sorkin ever does a legal procedural, you should be brought on as writer/consultant.

The heck with the cats. I want to see the unexpurgated Things Ken Wrote While Angry Before Cooler Heads Intervened. Tell us about the self-esteem issues of SEC attorneys and other such trivia. I bet these could eventually be collected into a book that would make a mint!

I came in on "Anatomy of a Scam" as well. (And I've been hanging around waiting very patiently for the next installment. Which I hope means there will be something very, very good when it comes.)

I think the Popehat bloggers have stumbled onto building readership the same way daytime soaps do — have multiple concurrent stories serialized, so while someone is checking for the next installment of the thread that first brought them in, they get hooked on a couple of new ones.

Now I'm waiting with bated breath to hear the newest news on Prenda, when I'd never even heard of them before.

I only learned of Popehat at Judge Wright's March 11th hearing, but now I find I must check it several times a day, just to see if something new has been posted. This addiction also appears to be contagious. My wife has acquired it too. Now we sit at our respective computers, laughing at the latest filings in the the various Prenda (and other) cases.

I found Popehat because of Marc Whatshisname. The post where Ken coined the phrase "snort my taint".

I think I was a reference librarian in a previous life, or perhaps I will be in a life to come, and I'm just laying the foundation in this one. While I'm normally able to control my desire to nit-pick, a type of restraint advisable to someone who so often errs, I have this issue with the misuse of the idiom, "coin a phrase." I bring it here because I believe the group of people who hang out here are of significant number and influence to bring about a change to the national dialect.

The expression, "to coin a phrase," means to repeat another's original phrase, passing it off as if it were your own creation. It comes from the origins of the act of "coining," meaning to counterfeit, that is in the days before paper money, counterfeiters would strike their own coins and pass them off as coins of the realm. So coining is not a good thing, then or now.

So if I were to say, "Hey buddy, snort my taint — to coin a phrase," I am acknowledging that I am using some others creative work. It's a way of giving attribution. That's the right thing to do, giving credit to the original wordsmith who minted the phrase.

Conversely, if I go around saying, "Hey buddy, snort my taint," without signaling attribution, anyone who hears me that also reads Popehat — apparently a pretty large group — would know that I am a derivative boob.

So please, I ask your help with this. For original expressions it's to mint a phrase. For cribbed expressions it's to coin a phrase. Why does it matter, you might ask? Because the original meaning is just so much cooler, don't you think?

You point out that before "to coin a phrase" meant to innovate, it meant to crib. According to this chap here, even before "to coin a phrase" meant to crib (which it did, ca. 1940, per the OED), it meant what it now often means: to innovate!

I don't remember how I found Popehat. I am not involved with the legal profession on any level but the writing here brings it down to my level while teaching *and* entertaining. It's one of the few blogs I also simply must click through to the page and get to the comments.

It's wonderful to see a whole group of people that can spell. Don't get me started on proper grammar and punctuation. It's an internet oasis in a desert of derp.

Yes the oasis of the discussion threads. The posts are top notch, but the quality of the comment threads is another reason I refresh the pages.

The Oatmeal brought me here. Having a situation in my life where court is unavoidable, the coverage of the Carreon debacle restored my faith in law humanity, which had been ravenously devoured by a good 'ole boy network that is our rural county court house. The term "fishing in a puddle" comes to mind.

This begs a question about the costs required to serve additional readers. How is the Amazon Affiliate program working? I run all my purchases through the Popehat portal but I bet many have forgotten. Maybe you have the whole thing covered.

feed our server!

Quote of the Month

"If you come to Popehat because you think that it is a law blog, you are sorely mistaken. Popehat is a geek blog, and it's a matter of mere happenstance that most of the bloggers here are law geeks. Some, such as Ken and Patrick and Charles, have carried their preoccupation to absurd extremes...." ~ David (previous)